{"id":1717,"date":"2013-10-31T11:02:36","date_gmt":"2013-10-31T15:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/?p=1717"},"modified":"2013-10-31T11:37:35","modified_gmt":"2013-10-31T15:37:35","slug":"things-to-do-in-boston-when-youre-dead-night-of-the-living-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/2013\/10\/31\/things-to-do-in-boston-when-youre-dead-night-of-the-living-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Things to Do in Boston When You&#8217;re Dead: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img class=\"spotlight\" style=\"width: 714px; height: 264px;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-prn1\/1238314_10202085343523074_1943337151_n.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Presented by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huboftheuniverseproductions.com\/events_notld.html\" target=\"_blank\">Post-Meridian Radio Players<\/a><br \/>\nAdapted by Jay Sekora<br \/>\nOriginal film script by George A. Romero and John A. Russo<br \/>\nDirected by Jay Sekora and Mindy Klenoff<\/p>\n<p>October 25 \u2013 November 2<sup>nd<\/sup>, 2013<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/local.google.com\/local?f=d&amp;hl=en&amp;daddr=52+Russell+St.,+Cambridge,+MA+02140-1310+US&amp;zoom=2\" target=\"_blank\">Responsible Grace Church<\/a><br \/>\nSomerville, MA<br \/>\nPMRP on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/427107784076874\/\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Review by Danielle Rosvally<\/p>\n<p>(<strong>Somerville<\/strong>) Halloween can be a bit bizarre for those of us in our twenty-somethings.\u00a0 That weird age bracket when you\u2019re not yet ready to give up the idea that this time of year should be about more than the hum-drum and ordinary; that perhaps there was something to the sugar-coated memories of your childhood walks around the neighborhood in the brisk autumn air wrapped in some crude approximation of a Jedi robe that came from a Party City bag; that perhaps, if you look hard enough, there\u2019s something out there to do that\u2019s not sit at a bar and commiserate with the other \u201cadults\u201d who are still trying hopelessly to deny the fact that they\u2019re too old for free candy from strangers (no matter <i>how <\/i>good their home-made Hogwarts uniform looks).<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Live radio drama isn\u2019t exactly common nowadays.\u00a0 In fact, this was the first show of its kind I had ever attended.\u00a0 Because of this, I was immediately skeptical about my own abilities to connect with the story: would it be difficult to follow due to my notoriously poor aural learning skills?\u00a0 Would I feel for the characters?\u00a0 Would the dissonance between what was going on onstage in front of me and what I was picturing in my mind be too distracting?<\/p>\n<p>As it turns out, these fears can (mostly) be quelled by the liberal application of raw talent.\u00a0 The Post-Meridian Radio Players have some voice acting chops.\u00a0 Oh, certainly, there were moments which might have been emoted a bit more clearly with physicalization and facial expression, but honestly the bulk of the work was carried by the extremely strong performances of the cast.<\/p>\n<p>And besides, I wasn\u2019t looking at the players onstage, I was looking at the live foley artists.\u00a0 For those not down with the lingo, \u201cFoley\u201d is a term used to refer to the creation of sound effects for movies and radio via the manipulation of live media.\u00a0 In the case of <i>Living Dead<\/i>, this meant a table full of goodies which one or two artists manipulated, shook, banged, bashed, and (in one notable case) stabbed repeatedly with a trowel.\u00a0 If that\u2019s not engaging theatre, I\u2019m not certain what is.<\/p>\n<p>As I sat there, I couldn\u2019t help but muse poetically that this performance was a brilliant example of the contemporary-turned-classical.\u00a0 The root of the word \u201caudience\u201d is the Latin \u201caudire\u201d meaning \u201cto hear\u201d (notice how \u201caudience\u201d is close to the word \u201caudio\u201d).\u00a0 In days of yore, an audience would discuss going to the theatre to <i>hear <\/i>a play rather than <i>see <\/i>a play.\u00a0 Today\u2019s Netflix, action movie, computer screen culture is completely video-centric.\u00a0 Our entertainment is, generally, taken in by the eyes.\u00a0 This has meant that theatre (over the years) has had to adapt \u2013 no longer do playwrights write characters who soliloquize with Shakespearean eloquence simply because the modern audience isn\u2019t prepared to absorb information that way.\u00a0 We are trained to see, not hear.\u00a0 So what a lovely exercise for the mind to break that paradigm; to attend a night of entertainment completely outside of the common artist\/audience exchange.<\/p>\n<p>For that, I do think that audiences who have recently viewed Romero\u2019s classic film will enjoy the performance more deeply.\u00a0 Familiarity with it is not an absolute prerequisite, but I was certainly wishing that I had done my homework before I arrived (not because the action was difficult to follow, just because I think I would have caught more subtle dramaturgical moments).<\/p>\n<p>On the whole, I would definitely recommend the experience of seeing this show (especially if you\u2019re looking for somewhere to get your Halloweenies out without running the risk of being \u201caccidentally\u201d molested by some guy dressed as The Rock while shoving through multitudes of people in an attempt to acquire a drink from the bar).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Presented by the Post-Meridian Radio Players Adapted by Jay Sekora Original film script by George A. Romero and John A. Russo Directed by Jay Sekora and Mindy Klenoff October 25 \u2013 November 2nd, 2013 Responsible Grace Church Somerville, MA PMRP &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/2013\/10\/31\/things-to-do-in-boston-when-youre-dead-night-of-the-living-dead\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,2040],"tags":[2941,4728,4727,3246,4730,824,4735,4729,4731,4736,69,4732,4737,83,85,4734,4726,631,4733,7406,213,4738,1765],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.netheatregeek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}